A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian– Marina Lewycka (May)

Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter– Peter Manseau (May)

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story– Christopher Moore (May)

Uglies– Scott Westerfield (August)

Pretties– Scott Westerfield (August)

Middlesex– Jeffrey Eugenides (August)

Princess Academy– Shannon Hale (August)

Mere Anarchy– Woody Allen (August)

The Hunger Games– Suzanne Collins (December)

Flowers Confidential– Amy Stewart (December)

First on the docket is Sausage, Grapes and Gorgonzola Dolce                      ***1/2

First off, I couldn’t find gorgonzola dolce for the life of me, or any spreadable blue cheese for that matter. So I ended up having to use Babybel blue cheese wedges. Not terrible, but not quite the high end cheese I was hoping for. Second, I had no idea how absolutely disgusting cooking sausage was. I’m used to the frozen-pop-it-in-the-microwave kind, and this was my first experience with real sausage lengths. When I had to butterfly the sausage and the casing split and the sausage innards popped out….oh god.

The panini itself was ok. Very simple to assemble, just the cheese, grapes and sausage. M. says there could have been more cheese (I only used about a wedge per sandwich) and more grapes (I used what the recepe called for). I thought it was ok, it wasn’t my favorite but then again I’m not a huge sausage fan (hurrhurr). Nothing really to do with the recipe, but I would probably only make this again if M. asked for it.

Barbecued Chicken with Blue Cheese and Celery                                         ****

I thought this was really good, and I’m not usually a bbq chicken fan (it also probably helped that–possibly for the first time– I used exactly what the recipe called for and didn’t cheat anywhere). I think I liked this a lot more than M. did, he said he only liked it a little more than the sausage one, but I liked it a lot more. I would definitely make this one again.

Italian Tuna Salad with Avacado and Mozzarella                                         ****1/2

M. was very skeptical about this one at first. He didn’t even want to try it, but grudgingly had a bite…and then wanted his own. I kind of used whatever I found in the kitchen for this one, and it was still great! Didn’t have white wine vinegar, so I subbed apple cider vinegar but only used half of what was called for. Also left out the capers, since I didn’t have any. It might be pretty good with them included, but it was awesome enough withough. I made it yesterday for lunch, and then again today for lunch. Kinda hooked.

Roast Beef with Whole Grain Mustard and Cranberries                                ***

This was the one I thought was a panini, but then realized was a cold sandwich. So I made one hot and one cold to see which was better (it was the cold). Still not a sandwhich that blew us away though. M. thinks that if the mustard wasn’t so tangy and the roas beef was thicker cut it would have been better. It’s possible. I’d be willing to tweak it and mess around, it does have potential. With some work, this could be a good sandwich!

Yes, paninis.

I recently got a panini press at my wedding shower, and it’s pretty much my new best friend. Combined with the panini recipe book (Panini Express by Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman) I also got, I have transformed into a panini goddess. There is nothing I cannot throw on this grill and make into a delicious sandwich.

For posterity, and for the sake of this blog, each time I make a new panini, I’m going to review it and note any changes that should be made. This should keep the blog going (knock on wood) and also keep a record of panini success/ failure.

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Smoked Chicken, St. Andre, and Pear-Apple Compote *****

For this recipe, I used a twice-creamed Brie because I couldn’t find any St. Andre or triple-creamed Brie. (Next time I would try harder to find a triple-creamed Brie) I also used a grainy Dijon mustard, which I would definitely use again. It was the perfect amount of sweet/tangy to balance the sweetness of the pear-apple compote.

I loved this panini. It was just the right combination of flavors, and so easy to make too. M. agrees, and wants this on a monthly basis, or so he tells me.

Turkey and Stilton Sandwich with Cranberry-Orange Relish *** (pending review)

Had a few issues with this recipe at first–all my own doing, not the recipe itself. Couldn’t find whole cranberries, so I thought whole-berry crandberry sauce would be an alright substitute. WRONG. After 20 minutes of picking all of the whole berries out of the cranberry sauce and getting only 1/4 of what I needed, I realized that this wasn’t going to work. But I did it anyway. So first note: just find whole cranberries, no matter how annoying it is to go to like 10 different stores. Problems two and three were much more minor and easy to correct. Didn’t use enough turkey per sandwich, and the loaf of bread I bought was too small. The paninis turned out more bite-sized than dinner-sized.

So overall, a good panini but only three stars so far. It could be four stars with correctly made cranberry-orange relish, a larger turkey and cranberry to cheese ratio, and proper sized bread. But in general, I’d give it another shot.

Vive la Revolution: A Stand-up History of the French Revolution–Mark Steel (February)
Kitchen– Banana Yoshimoto (February)
Beavers: A Wildlife Handbook–Kim Long (March)
The Zombie Survival Guide–Max Brooks (April)
The Hipster Handbook–Robert Lanham (April)
Persepolis-- Marjane Satrapi (April)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress– Robert Heinlein (April)
Lady Chatterley’s Lover–D.H. Lawrence (May)
Breakfast of Champions–Kurt Vonnegut (May)
Tongue– Kyung-Ran Jo (July)
Anthem– Ayn Rand (August)
Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle:366 Ways He Really Cares– Mathew Honan (August)
Ghost World– Daniel Clowes (September)
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England– Brock Clarke (September)
The Stranger– Albert Camus (September)
A Million Little Pieces– James Frey (October)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid– Jeff Kinney (November)
Everybody Into The Pool: True Tales– Beth Lisick (December)

All in all, not too bad. I’d like to do more this year, but so far I’m off to a lousy start.

I am still working at the florist, and still loving it. I’ve gained so many skills and given a lot of responsibility. Still part-time, but that’s OK. I don’t know if I really want to be full-time, except for the paycheck. Weddings are probably my absolute favorite part of working there, for some reason they’re just so much fun to go and do. There is a lot more work involved than a regular day at the shop, but I think the payoff is a lot bigger (and more immediate!). Some couples pick wonderful color combinations, and some pick…well not so wonderful ones. December and January were slow goings as far as wedding work goes, but we have one this weekend that I’m excited for.

All of my woes with school have been ironed out for the most part. Finished last semester with flying colors, and after this semester I’ll finish my Associates Degree. This is still worlds apart from where I thought I’d be five years ago, but that happens. I’m happy with what I’m doing, and will be glad to have something to show for my years at school. Still uncertain if I’ll finish my Bachelors any time in the near future, but there’s plenty of time for that. This semester I’m taking Abnormal Psychology, Experiences in Diversity (barf), Human Geography, and Geology. I haven’t started Human Geo. yet, but I hope it’s going to be as interesting as it sounds. Abnormal psych is pretty interesting, but “Experiences in Diversity” is stupid. The articles we read are a little interesting, but the format is dumb and the prof is rude. I had hoped Geology would be a little easier, but it’s a science lab so I don’t know what I was thinking with that one. Hopefully I can get through it.

In non-job/school related news, M. and I moved out of the city and into an apartment just outside of Philly. Even though I miss the busyness of the city, I do like where we live now. The apartment is bigger, nicer, and it’s two blocks from work! I can walk! We’re still pretty close to the city, but it just seems like so far in comparison to where we were living. There has been a definite drop-off in time spent driving around Philly. We still go occasionally, but only for big things like plays or concerts. SPEAKING OF!

Late last December (the 22nd, to be exact) M. took me on a surprise date. At first I thought that he had forgotten our 18 month anniversary was JANUARY, not December, but apparently he knew. So I get of f of work at 5, I am tired, and I get home to find a vase with one rose in it on the coffee table. Next to it, a scavenger hunt sheet of clues to find the rest of the roses! It was a lot of fun, and some of the clues were actually pretty tricky. Clever, clever M. Later I was bustled into the Mini and driven off to the rest of the surprise. We ended up at World Cafe for dinner and a show upstairs. Our table was so close to the stage we were practically ON the stage. The show was great, and M. and I had a great time. The night, however, was apparently not over though. On the way home M. pulled over behind the Art Museum and tried making me go for a walk with him. Normally, I wouldn’t mind. But it had just snowed tons, and I didn’t have an adequate jacket. So I was a little cranky that he made me go for a walk, but I went anyway. We stumbled over the ice and snow out onto the gazebo’d pier to look at the partially frozen water and birds; it’s always very pretty out there. M. grabbed my hands and said we should dance. While dancing, he started singing our song (Green Eyes, by Coldplay). It was so sweet, even if I am an awkward dancer. He sang the whole thing, which was very impressive, and then he stopped, took my hands, said my name, pulled something from his jacket, and dropped to his knee. I think I may have peed myself. And so, we are engaged. The wedding planning has begun, and it is a lot more stressful than I thought it would be. We’ve 99% figured out where we are having it, and naturally I have the flowers figured out. But that’s about it. We have 9 months to nail everything down though, so we should be good.

As I was adding a tag for this next part, I accidentally typed “fatties”, which is shockingly close to what I was going to type about. Tyler has two new brothers in the apartment, who coincidentally enough, are fatties. Niles and Norton, our two little rattie babies, came home with us a few days after the engagement. We had been planning on getting them for a while, but the timing was especially auspicious. They now live in our room (as I don’t trust Tyler Destroyer of Worlds with them completely) and are totally precious. The two of them are about two months old, and growing so fast!

There are a few more things to write about, knitting updates, Becky Shaw, and the mega “Books I Read 2009″ list, but I’m tired of writing so it’s going to have to wait.

M’s surgery went well but required a bit of a hiatus from thinking about writing anything. He’s finally recovered enough to go back to work though, and doing pretty well.  I, also, have gotten a job at least part time. My persistence has paid off with the local florist, and I’m scheduled for about three or four days a week, with hopefully more to come. Working at a florists again is great, although its going to take a bit of adjustment since I’m used to the previous shop and this one is quite different. Plus I’m making a lot more per hour than I thought I was going to! Always nice.

Even though I’ve only been back to work for at most two and a half weeks, I’ve learned more skills in those weeks than I ever did at the last shop where I worked. I still don’t know if I want to ever eventually open my own shop, or just be an arranger working for someone else, but I do know that I really enjoy what I’m doing.

School-wise, things are falling back into place, albeit slowly. The remaining balance from last fall’s tuition has been paid off, and I’ve been told that I can try to get my federal loan back. Now all I need to do is sign up for classes and secure loans for them. If my records aren’t lying to me, then I only have two semesters left until my associates is finished. After that, who knows what I will do!

M. and I have also started dieting, since the “Christmas weight” we gained has turned into “Oh God It’s Spring And We’re So Fat” weight.  We have been doing it for, oh, I don’t know, two weeks or so now? And its going well! My most successful diet yet, perhaps. I’m down about nine pounds. Ideally I’ll lose at least thirty, possibly forty pounds total? I want to at least be where I was last spring.

M. and I have also been doing a bunch of fun things lately, too. We went to go see the new Star Trek as well as the new Terminator movie, both of which were OK. I preferred Star Trek, but M. didn’t care for either of them. Possibly because I started out with low expectations for Star Trek (having never seen or wanted to see any of the old movies or TV episodes) and was pleasantly surprised, whereas M. has seen old episodes and had higher preconceived notions about the new movie. We both thought Terminator was meh. As much as I like Christian Bale, he was not a good John Connor casting.  Plus his deep raspy voice is starting to annoy me.

Last Friday was The National concert at the Factory, and let me just say it was incredible. They put on SUCH a great show, I was in awe. They are one of my all-time favorite bands, and I was in no way let down by their live performance. I would totally recommend them to ANYONE. Also, I was extremely excited to be able to get into the bar section for the first time as well. Nothing improves an already good concert like some beer. Even just meh beer like Yuengling.

I’m sure there’s more to update about, but for the life of me I can’t think of what those things are. They’ll probably come back when I’m sleeping tonight, so I can jump up and blog at like 3 in the morning.

This article has inspired me to try to drink more water (again). Every so often I get into water-drinking kicks, but more often than not I’ll turn towards milk, diet soda, something not water. Hopefully, it’ll curb munchy cravings, make my face not so dry, and maybe give me some more energy. So, post-New-Years resolution: drink more water.

In other news, our freezer door has fallen off. M opened it yesterday, and the thing plain just fell off the bottom hinge. It was quite hilarious, actually. The only problem is…a freezer door that does not close does not keep food that should be frozen, frozen. M managed to tape it closed with some heavy-duty clear packing tape, which should work for now, but hopefully the maintenance man comes quickly. In previous experience (toilet leaking fiasco anyone?) you can call all you like, but the maintenance man just never arrives. This is a  problem that can’t be ignored though, so if he does not come today or tomorrow, hell will have to be raised in the leasing office.

*Update* Shortly after I posted, Mister Maintenance came. He is currently fixing the freezer AND de-icing it for us. A miracle!

Originally, when I decided to update this blog more often and acutally use it, I chose to not include pictures, because I thought they cluttered up the overall look. Thats also why I chose a very minimalistic, black and white, no frills theme. I’m a fan of minimalism. But, having reconcidered, I think I’m going to add a punch of color in the layout, or maybe a few photos. Perhaps both if I’m feeling particularly crazy.

Annnd I forgot to do laundry this afternoon. Lovely.

Since today was so nice, I decided to forgo the Doctor Who marathons I have been indulging in lately, as well as the manic knitting  I have also been doing. Both are nice, but it was time for a break. The apartment was crying to be cleaned and straightened up, so I answered that cry. But what good is cleaning with no background music? So I downloaded this. I have an extreme soft spot for world music of all kinds, but I especially love Brazilian jazz type things. This was perfect. The kitchen is also now cleaned, as well as the rest of the apartment tidied up. It is lovely.

I also took a stroll down to the store to placate my sudden craving for oranges. Snagged five oranges and an awesome mango for $6. I am not sure if it is awesome that this is so thrilling…or just sad?

Also:

#17- M. and I have been looking at bikes for me for quite some time now. Renting one was alright for one time, but after a few it does not really become cost effective. So, investing in a bike seemed like a good idea. And M. would have someone to ride with too! So after shopping around online (and having a HORRIBLE experience with snobby salesclerks at one local bike shop) we finally got one! Its fabulous, rides well, and looks great! I have only taken it out once so far, as the weather has either been blah, we have had events to go to, or it was too late– but I hope to be biking a lot more this spring/summer/forever!

I wish I could go back and apologise to him, even though he probably never knew I made fun of him for it.